SENATORS MOVE TO BLOCK GENERIC PAYOFFS

FEBRUARY 01, 2007

Sen Patrick Leahy (D, Vt) will introduce
a bill to outlaw payments that are made
by brand name pharmaceutical companies
to generics firms to prevent competition.
Leahy said he would work with
other senators, including Charles
Grassley (R, Iowa), Herbert Kohl (D, Wisc),
and Charles Schumer (D, NY), to reintroduce
the bill they sponsored in June
2006.

Addressing a US Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing on the issue, Leahy
said, "Congress never intended for brand
name drug companies to be able to pay
off generic companies not to produce
generic medicinesthat would be a
shame, harmful to consumers, and a
crime." Support for the bill came from
Federal Trade Commissioner Jon
Leibowitz.

Leibowitz pointed out that, in 2005,
only 3 of 11 US patent settlements
between brand name and generic companies
had included both an agreement
to defer generic entry and some form of
payment from the brand name firm to
the generic challenger; this number had
risen to 14 of 28 final settlement agreements
in 2006.